So he sent for him and said, 'Ciccu,
unless within eight days you bring me the fairest in the whole world, I
will have you hewn into a thousand pieces.' This mission seemed to Ciccu
a hundred times worse than either of the others, and with tears in his
eyes he took his way to the stables.

'Cheer up,' laughed the horse; 'tell the king you must have some bread
and honey, and a purse of gold, and leave the rest to me.'

Ciccu did as he was bid, and they started at a gallop.

After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on the
ground, so hungry and weak that they were unable to fly. 'Get down, and
give the poor things some honey,' said the horse, and Ciccu dismounted.
By-and-bye they came to a stream, on the bank of which was a fish,
flapping feebly about in its efforts to reach the water. 'Jump down, and
throw the fish into the water; he will be useful to us,' and Ciccu did
so. Farther along the hillside they saw an eagle whose leg was caught
in a snare. 'Go and free that eagle from the snare; he will be useful to
us; ' and in a moment the eagle was soaring up into the sky.

At length they came to the castle where the fairest in the world lived
with her parents. Then said the horse, 'You must get down and sit upon
that stone, for I must enter the castle alone. Directly you see me come
tearing by with the princess on my back, jump up behind, and hold her
tight, so that she does not escape you. If you fail to do this, we are
both lost.' Ciccu seated himself on the stone, and the horse went on to
the courtyard of the castle, where he began to trot round in a graceful
and elegant manner. Soon a crowd collected first to watch him and then
to pat him, and the king and queen and princess came with the rest.
The eyes of the fairest in the world brightened as she looked, and she
sprang on the horse's saddle, crying, 'Oh, I really must ride him a
little!' But the horse made one bound forward, and the princess was
forced to hold tight by his mane, lest she should fall off. And as they
dashed past the stone where Ciccu was waiting for them, he swung himself
up and held her round the waist. As he put his arms round her waist, the
fairest in the world unwound the veil from her head and cast it to the
ground, and then she drew a ring from her finger and flung it into the
stream. But she said nothing, and they rode on fast, fast.

The king of Ciccu's country was watching for them from the top of a
tower, and when h